I recently published a guest post on the Four Misconceptions People Have About the Paranormal by Kaye Giuliani. The author of the article, or at least her publicist, has offered up the author's complete Charity Fish series as a prize for here. This includes Charity Fish, The Farmer Takes a Child, and Grains of Truth. Worthy reads if you like the paranormal.

With school starting soon, it is best to have that anti-bullying talk with the kids sooner versus later. Here's a movie to help broach the subject. Take the quiz, sign the pledge, and enter to win your own signed copy of the Standing Up movie.

I think we're going to go and see the movie Planes this weekend. I was surprised to see the movie was rated PG instead of the G rating of Cars. Parent Previews has some information on why Planes is rated PG. Here are some activity sheets related to the movie you might be interested in.

You know, I never noticed something before. I used to live within a few miles of where GiftCardRescue is based. With that said, we have $200 in gift cards up for grabs, if you're in the continental US48. Try your luck and enjoy.

"About GiftCardRescue.com

Based in Ellicott City, MD, GiftCardRescue.com’s mission is to make it easier for people to unlock the value in their unwanted gift cards. The company buys gift cards from those who don’t want them and sells them to those who would use them.

Consumers can get up to 90% cash back for their unwanted gift cards and save from 4% up to 30% on discounted gift cards to over 350 national merchants. GiftCardRescue.com guarantees all transactions and is backed by the best customer support team in the industry.

Founded in January 2008, GiftCardRescue.com, with no outside capital, is now the fastest growing gift card exchange site."

We have another giveaway today that stays away from the electronics and gift cards/cash. This time some Cracker Jacks. Just kidding, a Cracker Basket from Emerson Creek Pottery. The giveaway runs until 8/30 and is US-only. Good luck.

Emerson Creek Pottery is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and was founded in 1977. Each carefully hand made with ceramic pieces that are formed out of clay made on site, hand painted and fired in a gas kiln. They offer a wide variety of products like Kitchenware, Vases, Home decor, personalized pottery, tea sets, gift sets and so much more.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

My wife has been complaining about our non-stick frying pan for quite some time and I couldn't resist picking this up for a review when it was offered. Our existing pan is Teflon and she's not happy with the fumes that supposedly come off it. The Green Earth Pan from Ozeri non-stick is provided via a natural ceramic coating. And that is the key feature of the Green Earth Pan.With the Ozeri pan, just think green. You don't get a coating of PolyTetraFluoroEthylene (PTFE). You don't get any use of the pollutant PerFluoroOctanoic Acid (PFOA) or any other harmful chemicals during manufacturing. What you get is a seriously strong non-stick coating that is not made in the laboratory.

Here's the last of our quickie three-day Microdry giveaways. This time for a kitchen mat. Good luck. Enter by 8/18.Are you looking for comfort in the kitchen when you stand? I spend countless hours meal prepping and I can tell you this next product rocks because it is smooth and comforting to stand on! Get ready because this is the new "Textra" mat that is micro-pebbled fabric, plush and stain resistant. The mat is so comfortable beneath my feet, it is truly almost not describable. The feel is so soft, and the cushioning is incredible. I feel light on my feet when I am on the mat as it just hugs your feet, and you can find this same mat at your local Bed Bath & Beyond or online at their retail store. Want to know more about this soft, plush, cushioning mat? Check out the full review here on Pittsburgh Frugal Mom.

Here's a unique little item up for grabs. A weather alert radio. Nice product. Be sure to check out the review before entering the giveaway. The way the weather has been so crazy lately, this would surely be helpful to own. The review is from Bill Elliott of Holiday Contest and Sweeps. And US residents have until 9/5 to enter to win. Best of luck.

Personalized gifts are a big thing these days. With all the unique names people are giving kids, stores just can't stock enough product to cover all of them. Enter in companies like frecklebox to create the personalized gifts on demand. In addition to the typical notepads, lunch boxes, and stickers, too, they also offer growth charts, chore charts, and many other personalized offerings you just can't find elsewhere. Here's your chance to win $30 to spend there. Enter before September 5 if you're a US resident.

With a Walmart in all the states, the winner here shouldn't have to travel far to use their gift card. If you're not sure what to buy, I can give you my list. You have until 8/29 to enter and the giveaway is open to only US residents.Welcome to the "End of Summer Giveaway Event" sponsored by Tip Hero and featuring some wonderful bloggers. With summer soon drawing to a close (unfortunately), we thought a great big giveaway event would be the perfect pick-me-up!

There are some great opportunities to score deals at the end of the summer. One lucky winner will win a $100 Walmart gift card to potentially use while shopping those end of the season sales.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

I don't believe I've hosted a perfume giveaway yet, but at $285+ a bottle, I couldn't resist participating in this one. Kind of like Coach bag giveaways (Coach Heritage Web Leather Messenger and Double Coach Handbag). We have a Seth Kornegay review and giveaway below which runs until 8/28. Again US only, and no PO boxes. Thanks for the other bloggers for helping me get the co-host spot. And, good luck trying to win.

About Seth Kornegay:Seth Kornegay is an elite luxury lifestyle brand that specializes in fine fragrances. They use only the finest pure ingredients from around the world in order to exceed the expectations of the most discerning clientele. Their indulgent products are designed to stand the test of time and they are never mass marketed. Instead, Seth Kornegay has chosen to limit the quantity of each product and solely focus on the quality and individuality. They primary goal is to service the high-end niche client who demands the very best and enjoys exclusivity. All of their fragrances are created in small, hand-numbered qualities with no more than 7500 unites of any one item for sale globally - ever!

We have for review here a Ozeri WeightMaster Digital Bathroom Scale, which offers MICROBAN Antimicrobial Product Protection. Antimicrobrial seems to be a big thing these days. I was watching an
episode of Shark Tank last season on ABC and one of the entrepreneurs looking
for some capital sold cutting boards. They were great looking cutting boards
and sold well, but they were made of wood. Nobody would touch the offer because Lori was so pro-antimicrobial. The thought was nobody would want to use a (new) wooden cutting board. Wood is
naturally not antimicrobrial.And, anyone
wanting a new board would naturally want one that was. I didn’t fully buy the
argument but I understand where it is coming from. And it prevented what I
thought was a great business from expanding.

Wedding photography is a big deal to many brides and grooms. These photos will be duplicated and sent out to several relatives so that the occasion can be remembered for years to come. Many couples are willing to pay the big bucks to achieve quality wedding pictures such as the ones found on http://www.capecodchamber.org/weddings. Yet there are some couples who are striving to spare expenses for the big day. They might ask an amateur photographer or a friend or family member to take these shots. If this large task is up to you, consider relying on these tips for creating quality and memorable creative wedding photographs.

Poses

There are several poses you can pull off for wedding photos. These can be sweet and touching photos, or they can be goofy. The idea is to be creative and to make positive memories. Don’t just take photos of the bride and groom smiling or kissing. Maybe get the groom to carry the bride or dip her when kissing. Add props such as umbrellas or get candid shots of the couple on a bench. Take individual photos of the bride and groom. Ask the groom to pose like a secret agent with a gun; tell the bride to spin around in her dress. As for group shots, try a variety of poses. For example, instruct the party to shoot their fists in the air while the wedding couple kisses. If it’s a bridesmaid’s picture, ask them to have a tug-of-war with the groom over the bride. Of course, be sure you get plenty of candid snapshots of each member of the wedding party.

Our ghost post this week highlights Mediterranean cuisine in Boston.Mediterranean diets have become increasingly more common in
recent years, due to studies showing the positive health effects. However, many
people are unaware of what Mediterranean food and cuisine entails, let alone a
whole diet. There are some typical characteristics of Mediterranean food you
can expect to find at restaurants and in homes. Vloraboston.com and similar restaurant websites feature some of these
foods in typical Mediterranean cuisine.

Geographical Location

To better understand what Mediterranean food is, it’s
important to understand where the term comes from. Mediterranean food is
generally considered food that is consumed in countries around the
Mediterranean Sea. However, the
healthier foods are usually associated with the Greek island of Crete, as well
as foods eaten in Southern Italy and Albania.

Back to the kitchen for this giveaway. No electronics or cash, just a casserole dish to make some dinner. Hope you like. It is valued at $120. Good luck. You have until 8/29 to enter to win.

Azure Cast Iron Flower Casserole dish is handcrafted from molten cast iron with a cast iron enamel finish. With a capacity of 77.8 oz, you can cook most anything in this in your oven up to 482°F. It can easily go from oven to table (with oven mitts, of course, unless you want to end up in the hospital). No more grabbing food from on top of the oven or having to dirty another serving dish just to make the meal look presentable. This casserole is also dishwasher and freezer safe.

A long time ago, in a valley far far away, the Pacific Coast Borax Company was born. The year was 1891, and no one could have known that 122 years later, Twenty Mule Team Borax would still be helping people clean all around the home.

The great folks over at California Pizza Kitchen are now serving Coca Cola products. Hooray. I'm not sure if it is to celebrate, but they are also offering a $10 off $40 order coupon, good when you try any new hand-tossed pizza. Expires 8/26/13.

Have you ever wanted a food dehydrator? Here's a chance to pick one up worth $170. We're limited to continental US only on this giveaway. Sorry Alaska and Hawaii. I guess shipping is too much for these far off lands. Either that or someone is just jealous of the weather.

"New Digitally Controlled" unit! Top mounted fan eliminates liquids dripping into the heater chamber. Expands to a giant 20 trays so you can dry large quantities all at once! 1000 watts of drying power means you can dry more, faster. Patented Converga-Flow® forces heated air down the exterior pressurized chamber, then horizontally across each individual tray, converging in the center, for fast, even and nutritious drying.

We seem to have a blogger getting a little ahead on things. Here's a giveaway opportunity that doesn't start until December. If you want to signup, link is below. Prize will be $200 Visa gift card and you, as the blogger, can get a free Twitter or Pinterest link with the announcement post.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

As I've mentioned in past posts, my day job is at Trip Advisor. They have a fantastic charitable foundation where a percentage of their profits is donated to, well, charity. As a challenge this year, they want to donate $250,000 to the Life is Good Kids Foundation. Their mission:

The Life is good Playmakers help kids overcome poverty, violence, and illness. We do so by using the power of joyful play to heal and strengthen children.

The challenge is to get 50 employees to each raise $500. For every 10 that succeed, they'll donate $50,000. In other words, for every $1 donation directed to Life is Good through an individual employee, they'll donate an extra $10. The timing is to get this done by the September 21-22 Life is Good Festival.Can you spare a dollar or two? If you can, please consider donating. Thank you. (Obviously, more is always welcome, but if a small percentage of the readers here can donate a buck or two, we should easily hit the goal.)

Monday, August 12, 2013

Not everyone wants an iPad. If you like the Android side of the house, here is Google's Nexus 7 tablet up for grabs. The giveaway is open to US and Canada residents and runs through 9/2. Times are PST, so will run a little later than typical.

BuyVia, a smart shopping mobile app and website, is ramping up for the back to school shopping season! The brand new Google Nexus 7 valued at $229 is the perfect back to school accessory with HD display, a long lasting battery and a front facing camera. This is the newest tablet to hit the market and is thinner, lighter and faster than before. You can get the app in the Apple Store or in Google Play.

The prizes for this giveaway are furnished by The Coca-Cola Company, and The Coca-Cola Company provided promotional consideration for Mommy’s Memorandum's participation in this program; however, Mommy’s Memorandum is fully responsible for running giveaway. All opinions expressed in the post are Mommy’s Memorandum's and not those of The Coca-Cola Company.I literally work across the street from a Coca-Cola bottling plant so I thought this would be an appropriate giveaway to join in on. If you're thirsty for some Ginger Ale, here's a giveaway offering six coupons for free 12-packs. US-only and ends on 8/15.

I found this guest post by author Kaye Giuliani intriguing and thought I would share. I hope you enjoy the article, too. I tend to like reality TV and I found the actual reality versus reality TV reality description amusing. A giveaway for the series will be starting shortly.

Investigator Says TV Shows often Misrepresent the Process

In the spirit of the famous quote from J.B.S. Haldane, that the universe is not only stranger than we suppose “but queerer than we can suppose,” paranormal investigator Kaye Giuliani says boring experiences can often be intensely fascinating – after the fact.

“ ‘Reality TV’ has it all wrong,” says Giuliani, who travels the country with members of her company Proof Finders Paranormal Investigations to study reports of haunted activity. “Most investigations are deadly boring. We don't run from room to room hissing ‘What was that?’ at each other. There are no shocked expletives or team members bolting down dark hallways.”

It’s after investigating haunting scenes that evidence is found, when plodding through hours of digital recordings and other data, she says.

Our string of MicroDry laundry basket giveaways continues here. Again, you have three days to win. Good luck.I love foldable, flat items that I use everyday, but when I am done they go away! College students don't have a lot of space and this laundry basket from Microdry is the perfect solution to hauling laundry, storing laundry and carrying it room to room! Here's a new catch for Laundry Baskets! You can find this great product line at Bed, Bath & Beyond. If you are shipping those college back to school, space is at a premium in those small rooms and this is the perfect Laundry Basket to answer the cry for no space. Want to know more details about this great product? Read Pittsburgh Frugal Mom's review here.

Back in June, we did our first giveaway for Zipz Shoes. Here's your second chance to win in case you didn't win the first time around. This giveaway is US-only also and runs until 8/30. Good luck. Hope to see my reader's name as the winner.